BOCA CHICA, Texas - SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft exploded minutes after liftoff in an uncrewed test flight from South Texas on Thursday (April 20), cutting short a key step in Elon Musk's development of a rocket vessel to eventually take humans to the moon and Mars. The flight test was the first for Starship mounted atop the company's new Super...
SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft, atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, explodes after its launch from the company's Boca Chica launchpad on a brief uncrewed test flight near Brownsville, Texas, US on April 20, 2023.
While SpaceX officials were heartened by the outcome, the mission fell short of reaching several objectives. Musk, SpaceX's founder, chief executive and chief engineer, had appeared eager to temper expectations in remarks made Sunday that downplayed the odds of a successful first flight. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell told a conference in February that the "the real goal is to not blow up the launch pad."
A live SpaceX webcast showed the rocket ship rising from the launch tower into the morning sky as the Super Heavy's Raptor engines roared to life in a ball of flame and billowing clouds of exhaust and water vapour. The spacecraft reached a peak altitude of about 24 miles before its fiery disintegration, SpaceX said. The company also noted that the rocket reached the critical launch point of maximum aerodynamic pressure before appearing to lose control.A throng of SpaceX workers shown during the webcast watching a livestream together at the company's headquarters near Los Angeles cheered wildly as the rocket cleared the launch tower - and again when it blew up.
Before that, SpaceX had test-launched prototypes of Starship's top half in five short flights to an altitude of 6 miles , seeking to perfect its return landing capability. All but one crashed in flames.
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